


Lost and Found

by archura



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, POV Andrew Minyard, Second Chances, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25942978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archura/pseuds/archura
Summary: Andrew didn't believe in miracles, but second chances worked just as fine.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 3
Kudos: 62





	Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youbloodyshank](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youbloodyshank/gifts).



> Trigger warnings:  
> \- Implied/referenced suicide (not happened but it was thought as a ''cause'')  
> \- I don't know how to trigger warning this but this fic has similar elements like what happened to the Naya Rivera.  
> \- This fic is heavily around death so all triggers around that.  
> Let me know if you want me to tag specific things, i will happily add them.

On 13th of August, 2020 Neil Josten’s body was found in Lake Katherine. It was 6 am in the morning, exactly 43 hours after he went missing and 19 hours after a search team was assigned to his case.

The body was found by a citizen that lived in the neighborhood and was immediately confirmed as the missing athlete from Palmetto State University. He was still wearing his bright orange team jacket and his phone was tucked securely on the jacket’s inside pockets. 

If Andrew wasn’t there to watch police removing the body -Neil’s body- from the water, he would not believe it. 

He wouldn’t believe it if he didn’t know how many shades Neil’s hair gets darker when it is wet. He wouldn’t believe it if he didn’t see the orange beads bracelet on his wrist that he made for him. 

He wouldn’t believe it if he didn’t run across the barricade to look at his face to make sure it was Neil. 

He didn’t cry. No. There were no emotions left to feel for Andrew. The last rope that tied him to the fucking world was gone with Neil. He laughed instead. He laughed loudly for the first time since he cut off his meds. If Andrew believed in God, he would think this was fucking joke. He could imagine God laughing at him right now. " _I almost made you believe that you could have one good thing in your life. Haha, gotcha!"_

Andrew stopped laughing, his eyes wet but not from crying. Andrew didn’t cry. And he was not going to. 

He turned his back when they put Neil into a body bag. He wasn’t going to stand here and watch any more seconds of it. When he turned back, he saw Kevin and Aaron standing a few meters away from them. Their eyes were locked on what was left from Neil. The two must have followed Andrew to here.

When he got close to them, he handed the car keys to Aaron’s shaking hands. 

"Don’t call me."

"Andrew-"

" ** _Don’t._ ** Call me."

  
  


He started to walk. Walkout from this fucking lake, walkout from this fucking street and maybe even from the city. Yeah, that sounded right. Leaving this fucking city. Maybe even the state. Disappearing from everyone until it felt enough. 

He started running. 

Andrew Minyard doesn’t run, but he can do it just for once. 

  
  
  
  


Andrew woke up.

He didn’t remember falling asleep and he certainly didn’t remember going back to Palmetto. When he ran, it was to run away as far as possible from his life. He was going to buy a ticket. The first one that he could find. Maybe even out of the fucking country. Why not? Nothing mattered anymore. He didn’t even have a deal left to keep. Nothing. Mattered.

He didn’t know why he ended up in the fucking rooftop at the fox tower again. Why he was lying on the cold, concrete ground just a few meters away from the ledge. 

When he moved his legs to get up and he hit something with his feet, he heard clatter that was too similar to ignore. 

It was the bottle of the whiskey he brought to the rooftop after Neil went missing. Andrew remembered that he threw out the bottle when he was on his way to the police station. He knew it was the same bottle because the label was scratched off with a knife by him. 

_This is weird._ He thought. He struggled as he got off from the ground. He wasn’t wearing his armbands. He was sure he was wearing them when he ran away from the lake. Sirens started to scream in his brain as he scanned the rooftop to look for them. And there they were, abandoned like a trash right next to the ledge. Everything was too similar. Too perfectly similar to ignore or mistook it as a coincidence. If Andrew took a look at the tshirt he was wearing, he knew it would be the same shirt he wore a day ago. 

He checked his back pocket, taking out his cellphone to check the date. 

**August 12, 2020. 11:04 am.**

Andrew didn’t believe in miracles either, but he believed second chances. For the first time in his life, he wanted to believe he was granted a chance to fix something. 

He didn’t know if Neil was even alive. He didn’t know if he could manage to f _ind him, save him_ in time, but he knew he could at least _try_.

He ignored the text messages from Wymack, already knowing that it was about police starting the search for Neil, and grabbed his armbands from where he left. 

He needed a plan. 

He already knew looking around Palmetto and going to Columbia house were useless so he had to create a different search plan. He wasn’t going to spend his time trying to get a hold of Stuart because this time he didn’t have to wait for hours to learn it wasn’t any of Nathan’s men’s doing. 

Andrew slid his armbands quickly. 

Less than 19 hours till they find Neil’s lifeless body. Meaning: he has so much less time to find Neil alive.

He opened the door quickly, climbing down the stairs as he reached for his car keys he keeps in his sleeve pocket. 

He was going to Columbia but unlike the first time, he wasn’t going to spend his, Neil’s, time looking around in the West. Neil was found in a fucking lake and it could only mean he was around in that place.

The road took shorter than it should but it felt like days when Andrew finally arrived at Katherine park. Instead of getting out of the car, he opened the maps app on his phone to quickly memorize the area. There were so many places Neil could be in right now and every possible scenario multiplied the possibilities. If he was taken, he could be literally anywhere. If he ran away, he would stay away from the main streets and hide in the most dangerous places in the city. Maybe even in a small shitty hotel. 

_Fuck._

How was he supposed to find out where Neil is when he doesn’t even know _why_ he was missing? He didn’t even know how he died. Did he drown himself? Did someone kill him and throw his body to the lake? Was it a swimming act gone wrong?

Why was he even back in time if he can’t save Neil? 

_Think Andrew. Think._

Did Neil act differently? Did he say anything that he could use a clue? Last time when Neil went missing he thanked him. He said goodbye.

This time?

Neil went for a morning run with a promise to bring Andrew fresh donuts and never came back. 

Just like that, Neil was gone and he didn’t come back home. 

_Home._ Neil was not coming back home.

_"You gave me a key and called it home."_

In that second, Andrew knew Neil didn’t run away. He didn’t run away last time and he had no reason to run away this time too. He was taken from his home, his family and Andrew was going to make sure Neil will turn back safely this time. 

When he pulled out his phone and called Kevin, he was already developing a plan. 

"Andrew? Where are you? I thought-"

"Riko." Andrew cut Kevin’s rambling. "Is he in Evermore?"

Kevin let out a loud curse. "Do you think this is his doing?"

"Answer me."

"He is technically not in the team anymore but he is still a student in Edgar Allan. Do you want me to check if he is there?" A short pause. "I’m still in contact with a student from there."

_A secret. Deal with it later._

Andrew took a deep breath. "Text me." 

After he hung up the phone, Andrew searched for Stuart’s name on the number list. Unlike the first time, this time he knew what to ask for. 

"Minyard." Stuart answered. Voice masking any emotion.

"I need you to look for Neil in Columbia." He said. "Look around Lake Katherine."

"Anything else?"

"Don’t waste your time with Nathan’s men. It is probably Riko Moriyama’s job."

"And how do you know that?"

"There is no one who is still alive that wants Neil dead except him."

"We will be in touch."

**13:26 - 17 hours before Neil’s body was found.**

While waiting for Stuart’s update, Andrew decided to search around the lake. He knew the lake was huge and he couldn’t walk or drive around everywhere but it was better than doing nothing. 

His shaky grip was tight on the wheel when he crossed a bridge in Woodlake and he only then realized he needed to smoke. He lit one with a practiced ease without taking his eyes from the road. He looked at the buildings, trying to detect if any of them looked off or empty. He even looked for a fucking white van parked in and the ridiculousness almost made him laugh. 

He was overwhelmed. He was not in the right mind to pick and analyze any emotion he is experiencing right now but it was a lot and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep his calm. He wanted to scream, yell, throw and break things. 

Instead, he lit another cigarette.

  
  


**14:49 - 15 hours before Neil’s body was found.**

Andrew was in his second tour when Stuart called him. He was so lost in his own thoughts that the ringing of the phone almost made him crash into a tree. 

Stuart didn’t waste time to start talking.

"The good news is, a car that was signed under the Moriyama’s was seen in Columbia. Bad news is they used a blind spot to stay away from the cameras. Maybe even changed plates. We have no idea where it went after it passed from Cross Hill Road." 

Andrew shook his head even though Stuart couldn’t see it. 

"Cross Hill Road is close to Lake Katherine so you might be right about them taking him there."

"Tell me about the car." Andrew barely hid the shakiness in his voice. He was close. He was so fucking close to finding Neil. Saving him. 

"A black Tesla with a plate of Georgia. You will know when you see it. That fucker really drove all this way to get Neil."

Andrew tried to remember if he saw any Tesla parked in one of the houses. He saw 4 of them. One was white. He didn’t check the plate numbers.

"I’m also sending my men to help you find him. If you find them before us, send us the location."

Andrew ended the call.

All three black Teslas he saw were on the other side of the lake and even though he knew this hell was so close to ending, the possibility of Neil dying was still high.

He didn’t know if he was even alive right now but he locked up this worry in a box to focus on finding him.

He drove faster.

  
  


**15:26 - 14 hours before Neil’s body was found.**

When Andrew saw the black Tesla hiding behind the trees of the backyard of a villa that was seeing the lake, he immediately knew it was the one.

He passed by this house 5 times already and he had no idea. Neil was here all this time and Andrew passed right in front of him. 

It took everything in him to stop himself from crashing the car. 

Instead, he drove past the house and stopped a few houses further to not alert his presence. He quickly sent the location to Stuart, hoping that his men will be here soon. 

Before he got out of the car, he quickly thought about a plan. He knew Riko was not alone because if he was, Neil would be able to handle him himself. That meant he had other people with him. Andrew didn’t know how many people would be there but he made his plan for 3 people. 

_Kill them. Save Neil. No._ If he kills them, he will go to jail and there is no guarantee that Neil won’t be in danger again. _Stab them lightly. Save Neil._ This might work.

He took out two of his knives from his armbands. 

He got off the car.

He walked fast, hiding behind the trees to make sure no one could see him. If one of the neighbors sees a man with a knife creeping around the neighborhood, it could ruin everything. 

When he finally arrived at Riko's house, he tried his best to hide as much as he could. His eyes quickly scanned the backyard and then the back door of the house. There is no way he could pick lock that. And there were no windows low enough for him to climb. 

_Fuck. Should I just ring the bell?_

Just when Andrew was thinking whether to ring the bell or not, the back door opened and a man dressed in _fucking raven colors_ got out of the house. 

_Now._

  
  


Before he could think about a plan, Andrew jumped from where he was hiding and ran to the man. In his luck, the man was too surprised to pull any kind of weapons on him. After Andrew threw the first punch into the man’s abdomen, the man reached out to his back pocket. Andrew was quicker, he cut the man’s arm to distract him with pain. It only worked for a few seconds before the man pulled a pocket knife.

"Is he still alive?" Andrew asked before attempting to grab the man’s knife.

The man flashed a disgusting smile before swinging the knife blindly. Lucky for Andrew, the man was very bad at using it.

"That tiny asshole? Considering his bleeding rate, he won’t be alive for long."

Andrew saw red.

He was blind with rage when he stabbed both of his knives to the man’s abdomen at once. He didn’t care if he was going to jail. He didn’t care about anything except Neil. 

The man fell to the ground with a groan. 

The back door opened again.

It was Riko Moriyama.

  
  
  


**15:40 - 14 hours before Neil’s body was found.**

  
  
  
  


In one second, Andrew was standing in the front of Riko. In another second, Riko was on top of him. 

Andrew blinked. And he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder.

He opened his eyes.

Riko was lying motionless on top of him. 

That's when Andrew realized his arm was right under Riko’s chest, his hand still grabbing the handle. 

He pulled the knife back. Then he threw Riko off of himself.

He heard a car stopping sharply just a few meters away from him. 

  
  
  


**15:47 - Neil was found.**

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/archurabasty)


End file.
